With the rapid development of modern industries, there has been growing interest on environmental pollution. Activated carbons (ACs) and activated carbon fibers (ACFs) have superior capability of removing pollutants. With large specific surface area, they have good adsorption capabilities. Further, with micropores exposed on the surface, they have high adsorption rates. Besides, they are advantageous in terms of economical efficiency and environmental friendliness. Particularly, with good stability, recyclability and processability, activated carbon has many applications in solvent recovery, purification of industrial products, purification of sewage and wastewater, adsorption and removal of noxious combustion gases, and so forth as prepared in the form of powder, granule or fiber. In addition, with large specific surface area and well-developed pore structure, activated carbon is useful as active materials for secondary cells, fuel cells, supercapacitors, hydrogen storage media, etc.
There have been many researches carried out on metal impregnation, chemical reduction, metal plating, etc., as a way to improve functions of an electrode by dipping metals on activated carbons. Of these, metal plating is considered as an economical method because metal loss can be reduced due to good adhesion between metals and carbon surface, and also a good reactivity can be attained because metals are protruding from the surface and the conventionally produced activated carbon can be used without special treatment.